Manic Depressive Ver 2
by Cliffhanger
Summary: Betrayal with a twist... and a revision! A prophecy between the Ringbearer and a divine being called a Cliffhanger is supposed to destroy Middle-Earth. Between a betrayal of two friends, this could be true. R&R!
1. Intro: The Revision

This fiction is a revision of the first "Fellowship Of The Ring" fanfiction, "Manic Depressive". Character names have been revised, and the plot has been thickened. Places shall be added, and events too. For the lighter version of this fic, check the biography of Cliffhanger.

**Title:** Manic Depressive Ver. 2.0  
**Category:** Lord Of The Rings Fantasy Fiction Novel Based  
**Genre:** Humour/Fantasy/Drama  
**Rating:** PG13  
**Summary:** Betrayal with a twist. Clae and Ash are fellow students and writers who embark on a journey from here to Middle Earth. Both shall choose a different path that will lead to rivalry. But all ensues in hilarious instances. :)

**Revisions:** Clefe McRaig's name has been changed to Claeren. She will be called Clae throughout the entire trilogy.

Enjoy the upcoming disaster!

Clae, Ash & Cliffhanger


	2. Chapter 1: The Prophecy Untold

**Chapter 1: The Prophecy Untold**  
  
This is one early but cloudy November morning.  
  
A girl peers behind the windowsill of a school bus jampacked for a field trip. She sadly watches the rain touch and break at a drop into a million cylindrical pieces on the glass window, as she waits for someone to occupy the seat next to hers. A gray and black backpack already worn of use sits beside her, with a button proudly displaying the phrase "Manic Depressive" in red letters hangs from a strap rustily.  
  
She sighs ironically as a group of drenched students halts from marching across a dead football field to board the bus that has been waiting since forever. A hunched gruffly figure in a cheesy yellow raincoat plopped wetly beside her, just after she was able to pull out her ancient backpack in time. "Do you have any idea how stupid it was to march out in the rain like that?!!" a girl's voice bloomed from under the hood just after it was pulled down.  
  
Silvery blonde hair fell down her shoulders, all wet and tousled up because of its being cooped up inside the raincoat hood. Her strong muscular tanned arms straightened a t-shirt larger than her size, clinging to her skin because of the water. The latter and the dry one, sat up and examined the boyish figure of the new comer, holding the raincoat and her backpack. "Uh... Clae?!" Green eyes fixed on the starer's blue ones. "Do you think wet annoyed people would like to be stared at after ignoring their wails of tragic experience?"  
  
"I can tell," said Claene McCraig, the early one who got into the bus in time before unexpected rain fell rolled her eyes at indespicable Ashley Kingsford. The female class jock who's too boyish to be popular. Clae might have prim and proper curls with her darkbrown hair and a brain to go with that, and Ash might care not if she wore mud-stained soccer jerseys still unwashed from last week's training to morning class, but both have the same passion that brought them together: Fiction and Writing.  
  
Clae shook her head and clucked her tounge, as she rolled the raincoat into a cloth pillar and squeezed the water on top of the nerd in the seat in front of her before returning it to the pouting blonde beside her. "Gaffer would have to make the tardees wait and march in the rain as she had told us yesterday, Ash," she reasoned out, as she took a portable battery-operated blowdryer out of her backpack. "This roadtrip is important to her."  
  
Seeing the other girl's non-plussed look on her face, made her say, "Well, of course... it isn't too important for me after all..." Ash stuck her tounge out at her as a lock of flying blonde hair (caused by the blowdryer) hit her on the face. "Ah well, this is a waste of our time..." Ash groaned as she sat impatiently on her seat, arms crossed. "We could be sneaking a laptop from one to another so we can finish our slashfic. I mean, _our_ tolkien fic..." she changed her statement with a sheepish grin, noticing the petrified look on her friend's face.  
  
Clae shook her head in a shiver and said, "Don't worry, this day will be fast as you and I predicted it. Don't expect any surprises. Nothing memorable can happen today while Gaffer's in charge."  
  
Ash grunted. "Enclosed Arboretum Roadtrip," she sniffed. "Are we there yet?"  
Clae smiled as she turned the blowdry off. "Just you wait."  
  
"Just you wait" turned out to be an hour later.  
  
"McCraig! Kingsford!" The annoying voice with the clipped British accent suddenly jarred the duo awake. Mrs. Gaffer, the Biology Teacher. How pathetic. "Chop! Chop! The sun won't wait for you, you little mothballs! Get your sleepyheads up and awake!" Apparently, the double has fallen asleep in the bus, and have continued to look drunk till the second portion of the trip to the Arboretum.  
  
"We'll have our pancakes after that litany, room service," Ash muttered rudely. Gaffer halted, so did the entire fieldtrip team. Clae was able to nudge Ash awake in time, before she slumped all over the floor, asleep. "Be careful of what you say, Kingsford," the teacher suddenly turned into a blowfish, her cheeks blooming in a bright tinge of pink. "Or your last trip will be Detention - back in Kennedy High!" Clae opened her mouth to object and defend her friend's honor when - "You too, McCraig! You're becoming a disgrace like this snotbag here, how shameful."   
  
Clae glared. Ash gulped.  
Then the blowfish threw her one last look, and whipped the sneering fieldtrip troupe behind her.  
The duo was left in the hall, still sleepyheaded.  
  
"C'mon Clae," said Ash, cloning her friend's angry look. "Let's ditch 'em." Clae slung her backpack on her shoulder and nodded as both jumped away from the hall, refusing to follow the path their class did. For a while, the coast was clear. Till a girl appeared from behind a pillar, who turned out to be spying on Clae and Ash.   
  
This is Sheiane Sandman. She is the cheerleader/class president/rich kid who hates Clae's famous talents for writing in the school journal and Ash's notorious attitude and MVP award for the Soccer Team. And she's one pure Tolkienist and Lord Of The Rings fan who's got a crush on every so-called-hottie in the line, except for Viggo Mortensen and Sean Bean. And Andy Serkis, perhaps. And now, she's up to really leading the duo into detention.  
  
"Shea Sandman saves the day again from those incompetent rascals," she said under her voice, chuckling as she led her Prada Boots in the direction where Clae and Ash were headed.

"I can't believe this. You call this a tree?"  
"No, I think its a plant. And its dicotyledon. Notice the parallels on the leaves..."  
"Uh, Clae... I don't need a Biology Lesson. I could ask Gaffer."  
"If you could find her. Don't you like this better? Its _free_ and with _less off-topic blabber_."  
  
Both stood in front of an unusual tree standing enclosed inside a glass. Unusual, because it has a very small trunk, but its branches were spreading far and wide, cramping against the invisible glass imprisoning it. A small square window stands in the middle of an adjacent side, allowing an observer to poke a hand in the enclosement and touch the plant.  
  
Ash examined Clae with her previous statement and shrugged. Clae rolled her eyes and continued staring, not noticing a hidden figure watching them closely. Ash tied her blonde hair into a frizz, and slung her backpack off her shoulders and placed it on the floor. She stepped closer towards the enclosed plant, standing on a platform that holds the glass, and poked a finger inside to touch it.  
  
Light screened from behind the insides of the tree, making Clae drop her jaw. Ash ignored this, bit her lip and tried to push in her entire hand to stroke the tree. Suddenly, the light burst and sent the girl plumetting to the ground, landing on the foot of her best friend. "What the-" Clae exclaimed. "Whoa," Ash muttered, trying to get up on her feet.  
  
Clae gave her a hand and pulled her up, but she stood shakily. The former shook her head unbelievingly and stepped closer to put in her hand too... when a cloaked hand suddenly closed upon her wrist. Cleff looked up and gulped. A man dressed up in grey robes with his face hidden under a dark pointy hat, clutched her wrist, preventing her from touching the enclosed plant.  
  
"Uhm, sir -" Clae started, when he released her hand. "You shouldn't test the power of this tree," a deep sovereign voice echoed from the stern face withered by time. "You know it is threatened by her power." He looked at Ash. "And yours too." He peered sharply into Clae's eyes.  
  
"Po-Power?" the golden haired child croaked. "When? Why? And why are you dressed up like Albus Dumbledore? The Harry Potter Convention is in the other building." The old man gave her a sharp look. "Okay, you must be one of the maintainers..." Ash whispered, obviously intimidated by his look.  
  
"This tree," the old man explained. "Contains a crystal of the a cousin of the Silmaril." He touched it once with a finger, and bright white light gushed through the spot where his finger was. "S-silmaril?" Ash said shakily, her voice bewildered. "Yes," the stranger replied. "Light gushes out whenever it is touched by a higher being, just like the elves. It was said, when it is touched by a valar, it releases all the power it has, only for the god not to harm the tree. The crystal was its protection."  
  
Ash and Clae exchanged queer looks and shrugged. _How could they be valars? And why was the man talking about... Lord of the Rings stuff?_ This was a Biology Area. Not a Literature Fair. "Thanks for warning," Clae muttered, dragging a wide-eyed Ash away from the man and the tree. "We'll stay away from that tree..."  
  
"Wait."  
  
The man pointed at the ground. The duo halted abruptly... when Clae realized that she's missing her bag. "Where's -" Hey eyes fell upon the thing the robed man was pointing at. "My bag." A smile spread under the man's shadowy hat, unseen by anyone. "You left something," he added. Clae looked at him weirdly and picked her bag up... findout out that it weighed ten pounds heavier.  
  
"What the-" She looked inside and saw the thickest book she had ever seen. "How-" Ash pointed, bewildered.  
"Its my token of understanding to you." said the old man, who seemed as if the girls asked a favor of him. "If you will ever need me, which I know you will, this book will lead you to me."  
  
Clae slipped it back into the bag, after ignoring Ash's weird looks. "Thanks," she mouthed, when a question circled her conscience that she didn't really mind asking. "Who are you anyway?"  
  
"Mithrandir," he answered. "I must go now. If you need me, seek and you will find."  
With a wave of his hat, he crossed the hall and was gone.  
  
Clae and Ash exchanged dark looks, as they looked back at the tree, that was still gushing forth white light, obivously still intimidated by their prescence. "How could we be..." Clae whispered. "_Valars?_" Ash shrugged. "We can't be... can't we?" her friend replied, a knowing look in her eye. Clae shrugged, as they continued walking towards the end of the corridor, following the path the strange man took before he disappeared.  
  
"Oh yeah, by the way..." Ash suddenly added, that made Clae think and stop.  
"Is that bag getting heavy? I can carry it for you."  
  
**_Could it be true that two ordinary high school students could be valars in disguise?  
Or was it a trap into destruction?_**  
  
**Notes:** **Claeren McCraig's** (Clae/Cleff) elvish name is _Idril Narmolanya_. **Ashley Kingsford's** (Ash) own is _Larien Anwamanë_. For future reference. 


	3. Chapter 2: Destiny Misunderstood

**Chapter 2: Destiny Misunderstood**  
  
"I can't believe it."  
"Gaffer does look worried."  
"Why would she be concerned with us? She'd like us to get out of her way, if that was the interpretation of her tone?!"  
  
Clae looked at Ash exasperatedly, as her friend just shrugged and looked even more worried. The former paced as the latter sat on a stair, watching their other classmates huddle around arboretum pieces and artifacts, their teacher nowhere to be found, after fussing over and scolding them when she found them. The tattletale Shea was nowhere to be found. To change the subject, Ash suddenly said the impossible.  
  
"I think were getting worse than detention."  
  
This made younger brunette restless. "She'd dare," she growled angrily as she released the heavy bag she was dragging across her shoulders on the floor. It sagged to the floor with a flop, as the clunk of metal reminded her of the prescence of the non-existant book she didn't expect carrying. Picking the bag up and sitting beside Ash, she took the iron-clamped book out of the bag and started to examine it with her hands. Her friend looked over, spying the book ruefully with green clouded eyes.  
  
"Maybe you shouldn't have gotten that book from that old wisecrack, Claeren."  
  
Clae frowned. One, she didn't like to be called by her first name; and two, she didn't undertsand why Ash, THE Ash, who loves to write and would suspect a Lord of the Rings item or character when she sees one, would reject such an offer like the book. "You don't know what that book could contain..." she continued, twiddling her fingers nervously, something Clae knew Ash wouldn't do in any way as based on her very strong personality.  
  
"Ash," she finally felt herself sigh, as she topped trying to pry the rusted lock on the side of the book open. "What is wrong with you?!!" With a roar and the rise of the accented tone of her voice, she angrily threw the book down at the floor on Ash's feet, as it suddenly bursts open. The green-eyed girl looks at her, eyes wide open in shock. Clae took time to catch her breath, and wonder what on earth she has done.  
  
The commotion reached the students, as they looked at Clae absurdly for a moment, and one by one walked away... muttering to themselves about a goody-two-shoes going bad. "Now what have I done?" she exclaimed in frustration, falling to sit down next to Ash, despairing in humiliation. However, her friend has missed the interruption.  
  
She was pointing at the book, that have broken open with one strike of motionary force, the throw. "Look," she pointed out.  
  
_Three rings for the Elves who would question the sky  
Seven for the Dwarf-Lords who miscalculated for the Strength of the Stone  
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to be betrayed  
One for a Child possesed upon his Dark Throne  
Far from Mordor, but in where the shadows lie.  
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them  
One Ring to bring them all, And let the darkness bind them.  
By the Child far from Mordor, but in where the shadows lie._  
  
"But in where the shadows lie-?" Clae echoed the scripture that appeared like ink spreading upon manuscript by invisible writing hands. "That's not what its supposed to sound..." Ash said, inching away from the book, eyebrows raised. Clae looked at her disbelievingly, but nodded. "I know." Her eyes returned back to the book, probing the pages wearily, waiting for other words to appear. "Clae, that book is witchcraft." Ash suddenly exclaimed, darkness in her voice. "Get away from it."  
  
Clae looked back at Ash, her eyes still in a trance. "Ash... its the War of the One Ring, its what I have been looking for all my life..." she whispered, her eyes dancing. "You wanted this too, didn't you? The man knew exactly what are dreams were... but why fight it? Ash...?" Her friend began to back away from her, insanity reflecting from her eyes. "What is wrong with you?" She began to stand up, but suddenly, the pages of the Book turned again. "Look!"  
  
A leaf separated itself from the others, and revealed two empty pages, with their name written on the bottom of each. "My name..." Clae whispered as her hand travelled over the empty page above her name. "...And yours!" Ash somehow lightened up a bit, and knelt next to her friend, her hand gliding towards the empty page, as if magnetized. "This Book was meant to be ours, Ash..." Clae said softly, but excitement in her voice.  
  
"And the story is ours alone."  
  
A snap errupted from Ash's brain. "Ungh!" she exclaimed as she tried to pull her hand from the book. But it wouldn't budge. "Its stuck! Its stuck, Clae!!! Look what you made me do!!!" She began to panic. "Ugh, it is!!!" Clae began to try pulling hers off too.  
  
"I told you this is bad luck! You shouldn't have taken it!" Ash screamed at her, as they both began to grapple towards their bags.  
"How should I know?!!" Clae responded angrily, scouring her pouch for scissors.  
Ash struggled hard to get her hand off, even tear the page off. "Is this enough proof?!!"  
  
Clae felt a little bit guilty. The moment she realized that this book had to do something with Middle Earth, she couldn't take her eyes off it... especially when the lyre of The One Ring talked about two children - them! But now, things were coming out a little bit complicated, as if they were about to be eaten by a nasty book filled up with dustballs. Just when she had gotten hold of the sharp edge of her cutter, it accidentally slashed the tip of her finger. "Ouch!"  
  
The drop of blood fell on the book, and splattered all over the page.  
"Uh-oh," Ash felt herself mutter, as light suddenly errupted from the book's spine.  
  
"Ow, ow, ow..." Clae grabbed her finger and began to nurse it... when she realized that she had taken her hand off the book. Ash looked at her in a shocked trance, as both suddenly looked back at the Clae's page... where her handprint was glowing blue. "Wait," Ash whispered as she pointed out words forming in the middle of the handprint, in tongues of gold.  
  
_Yours Idril Narmolanya, is the gift of wisdom and light.  
Your heart is the measure of true courage  
And your vow cannot be broken._  
  
Both girls exchanged looks and Clae whispered to her friend, "What does that mean?" Ash could only shrug. Much to her surprise, when her hand came off, and her handprint glowing in red. "The book has words for me too?" Clae looked at her blankly and just nodded.  
  
_Yours Larien Anwamanë, is the gift of pride and flame,  
Your anger shall spread fire upon the black hearts of Mordor  
And your power can never be underestimated._  
  
"Ah, so I am strong..." she whispered.  
"... like what you always have been." Clae added.  
  
For a while, their handprints glowed blue and red, with their gifts glowing in letters of gold. Then, the colors faded, and the pages flew back into position, the book snapped closed. "Oh." Both girls said in unison. When all light and awe had faded, both realized that some people were looking over their direction... and they realized what a fracas they could have created. "Come on," Ash said, getting up on her feet.  
  
When they have left the staircase, they went through this hallway devoid of any schoolmates, judging the look on their faces after the two of them created a personal frenzy over something they couldn't even see. They didn't want their schoolmates to think of them worse as crazy morons with an autistic's world much further. Reaching the Arboretum Library, Ash suddenly halted. "What?" Clae muttered nervously, as Ash eyed her backpack. "This is our chance," the latter whispered, as she reached out to get her bag, which Clae has swung out of the way. "What on earth are you doing?!!"  
  
Ash looked back at her friend, her green eyes not as brilliant as before. It was gray, with a cloud of uncertainty and doubt. "I'm getting rid of that Book once and for all," a growl escaped from beneath her throat, lunging at Clae's backpack. "It has caused us nothing but trouble ever since." One more lunge and she suddenly lost balance and hit the floor... due to Clae's swinging moves that are as graceful as a bullmaster.  
  
"Haven't you been listening to Mithrandir? We might need this book, Ash..." a beacon of invisible hope sounded from Clae's words. However, Ash did not seem enlightened as she got up to her feet, looking defeated. "You're getting too attached to that book, Clae... " she whispered haughtily. "None of its words or hallucinations are true, you know that... Just because it gave you _the gift of wisdom and light_..."  
  
Clae's eyes began to cloud with worry. "And you don't believe it? You have the gift of fire and flame, you should be proud..." her voice began to drift away. "Unless you're jealous of what I got..." Ash's green eyes of envy flared bright red. "Jealous? Why should a sane, psychologically fit person be jealous of a TON OF LIES, Claeren?" When she was finished, Clae had already dropped the bag in shock, and Ash was billowing steam from her ears and nostrils.  
  
"Ash," a pained soul asked silently. "What has gotten into you?"  
  
Raising an eyebrow, and batting an eyelash, Ash swiftly took her own backpack which has fallen to the ground, and left a clueless and discombobulated Clae standing alone in a remote part of the Enclosed Arboretum. Bothered both by her conscience and anger, she turned around, dragging the heavy backpack in isolation, as a tear from her eyes fell on her cheeks... slightly glowing in a tinge of blue.  
  
Turning sharply around a corner, still spewing steam from parts of her body, Ashley Kingsford suddenly collided with an insect figure in Prada shoes and Abercombie tops, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "Watch where the hell you're going!!!" Ash roared at the person, going right past it.   
  
"Why are you so cold, Ash..." a drawling, girlish voice rose from behind her. "You shouldn't be affected by goody-two-shoes's ego-eccentric hallucinations. You know she doesn't like you either." The blonde girl fell into a halt, aghast. "What do you mean...?" she growled, her face redder than the sun.  
  
Shea Sandman, the snotty, preverted know-it-all stepped out of her hiding place - the Arboretum's Study Hall, smirking. "You seem jealous of this small prize she gets to keep, instead of you, isn't it?" she predicted, throwing her finger up in the air, waving it around in circles. Ashley turned red and muttered lethally... "I am not jealous."  
  
The snot-bag geek raised an eyebrow. "Really?" She began to circle the golden haired student, her heels clicking on the marble floor. "Then why are you so guilty?" she asked as-a-matter-of-factly, as Ash's face began to glow a little redder.   
  
"Ash, Ash, Ash..." Shea aid tauntingly. "Why do you hang around that snotty, good-for-nothing Claren? Her will is as bad as her word, if you know what I mean..." The angry blonde stepped aside, and crossed her arms, still steaming. "What do I look, stupid?!" she exclaimed, pointing a finger animatedly at herself. Shea's look turned a little bit stern, but still scheming. "She's a liar, don't you see? She's just using you so that she'd gain a little from your popularity. Us popular girls know so much about users, I wonder why don't you..."  
  
Clearly sticking out her point, she said, "Know that she's got this precious artifact... that Book you're jealous of, she has no use of you anymore." As her words ended, Ash's eyes gleamed, as if shocked or enlightened. But then it just fueled the indescribable anger for Clae within her... Shea innocently twiddled her thumbs as she spoke her confusion. "I advice you to betray her, and then take revenge on her later."  
  
Ash grunted, slung her bag ove rher shoulder, and turned her back on the antagonist. "Your advice is too late," she growled. "I already left her..." Shea's knowing smile melted into a frown, as she tried to catch up to Ash's huge, angry steps. "What about the Book? Aren't you going to steal it? Aren't you going to get it back? I thought you wanted revenge?!!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.  
  
The girl turned around, a suprised, mocking expression plastered on her face. "So!" she exclaimed in a jubilant expression. "Its the book that you want!" Shea nodded, in a sort-off manner. Ash's amused expression deteriorated into a snarling frown. "Then get it yourself!" she screamed, turning around a sharp curve, out running a reluctant Shea whose intention was revealed.  
  
"Hey!" Shea screamed after her. "That was rude! And look whose face is glowing unusually red!"  
But Ash was nowhere to hear her.  
  
Alone and abandoned, Clae stood miserably on the spot where Ash left her... all alone under the vaulted dome of the Enclosed Arboretum - Plant Museum. Taking the accursed Book out of her bag, she realized that this book was the cause of all this mishap. She couldn't understand why Ash would be jealous of her gift... after all, it is only in words. Just in words.  
  
"If you have never come to me..." she whispered angrily, raising the Book abover her head. "None of this would have happened." With the swift move her arms, she threw the book on the floor.  
  
SPLAT! The Book, to her surprise, fell open.  
  
"What?!" Clae exclaimed, looking much confused as ever. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind circulated in the hall, taking everything along its way. The leaves of the book, began to turn, as the girl started to panic. "What is going on?..." she screamed amidst the flying objects, the strong wind, and the loud flipping of the pages of the book beneath her. That's when she noticed that something was also wrong with herself.  
  
Getting herself face to face with a glass, enclosing a group of plants... she didn't take notice of the variety of plants displayed in it, but the distortion in her reflection. Her hand slowly went up to her cheek as she disbelievingly whispered, "It can't be," as a gasp escaped her mouth. In the heat of it all, she realized that her face was glowing blue.  
  
It must be all because of the accursed Book's will.  
  
A thundering din filled her ears. She looked up to see a radiating blue ray crash through the volted dome of the Arboretum, and completely consume her. And with a scream her own ears cannot hear, Clae McCraig vanished. All she left was a single Book lying on the floor.  
  
The adventure has begun as we know it.


	4. Chapter 3: Darkness In The Shire

Chapter 3: Darkness In The Shire 

"Mmmhm."  
  
Clae felt her arm muscles swell as she tried pushing her head up from the marble floor - no wait... the dusty ground she was lying on. Her eyes are still partly closed, and her head is spinning from the blue light that just swallowed her. She weakly stood up on her feet, with her knees wobbling... as she dared to open her eyes and look around.  
  
She saw nothing but an endless cropfield and growing darkness swallowing a setting sun.  
  
_Where am I?_ She frowned at the question formed in her mind. Maybe the correct term is... Where on _earth_ am I? She shuffled her numb feet on the ground, as she decided to follow a small dirt trail in the middle of the field leading to nowhere. As she wandered hopelessly, north to south, she realized that she has lost everything. Her retainers, her backpack, the Book the old tattered man gave her... She realized she lost her only best friend, Ash.  
  
That Book. The thing that caused every clamor and envy between their friendship. The root of all disaster. The one thing she tried to obtain, and in the process... she lost Ash.  
  
Now, she's lost. Maybe, even forever lost. Dreaded things circled her mind as she walked around in circles, trying not to panic. What if she was walking in a field of man-eating poppies, and it just appeared like a crop-field in shrinking daylight? What if there are some man-eating Nazis hiding in the darkness of the bushes, waiting to pounce on her and scalp her? What if she's not in Germany at all? And she's in the woods of the Blair Witch that's just disguised as an innocent cropfield! Will she ever get out alive? Will she ever see the tame faces of her parents again? Will she ever see Ash, reconcile with her, and play hardcore soccer with her again?  
  
Will she ever see the light of day?  
  
These things poisoned her mind as she walked feebly in the cold, with a migraine growing with it. She crossed her arms and tried to hug herself, as the cold began to spread all over her body. Despite her blurring vision due to her increasing headache, she tried to peer farther than what her near-sighted eyes could see... and she glimpsed flickers of torch-light. _Men._ A gulp went down her throat, as she began to stumble backwards, ready to break into a run. But the moment she turned back, she heard the sound of growls and dangerous barking right ahead of her. _Hounds?!!_ She stood scrambling in one place in a moment, panicking in the highest degree.  
  
Torches behind her back, and dogs forward. Where must she go?  
  
She closed her eyes and then looked east. The barking began to sound clearer to her right. "Its now or never," she felt herself mumble, as she finally broke into a run. Past trees, and past swaying wheat stalks, she sprinted. But the end of the cropfield she cannot see. And the way out she cannot reach. The dogs could have sensed her movement, as her sneakers squeaked and broke east. The barking sounds were right behind her. She tried to run faster... if she can only outrun them... And upon an unfortunate stroke of luck, she tripped over a stone and fell. Or... was that really a stone?  
  
"Aaargh!" a blood curdling scream came from the thing she just tripped on.  
"Aiee!" Clae answered back in shock, as she arose from the dirt, nose bleeding.  
  
She got up on her feet, and stared at the small creature whimpering on the ground, seemingly frightened by her prescence. "I'm sorry," she mustered as she held out a hand to the small little boy, but he just cramped himself near this small rock, avoiding both her hand and her thoughtful gaze. The sound of footsteps grew closer. "Come on," Clae pushed, as she continued holding out her hand to the small boy. "Burglar, trespasser or not, we have to get out of here before those hounds get to us."  
  
He looked up at her towering figure with those brilliant green eyes, and huddled closer to the rock in fear of her. Feet itching to run, Clae turned her back to the boy and faced the howling dogs. Standing in front of the small creature, she picked up a huge twig lying on the ground and waited for the torch-light to glare in her eyes. Then, with an angry raging look on her face, she turned around to face the little boy, who quivered at her sight. "Please," a small voice escaped its lips, afraid that Clae might raise the bar and make him run away by force. "I beg you not to harm me."  
  
A questioning look distorted Clae's face. "Huh?"  
  
A cry escaped his lips, as a dog sudden sprang in the air, ready to attack him. Recovering her wits, Clae swung the branch, and hit the hound straight on the nose. It fell back on the ground rubbing its snout, whimpering in fear. The little boy peered forward to watch Clae's battle in amusement and awe. The brave girl turned to pick him up and run, but she sudden fell back onto the ground, when another hound leapt on her, and bit her exposed leg through tattered jeans.   
  
"Aaaargh!" a cry broke from her, as the dog continued pawing and tearing through her leg. She tried kicking it away, but the pain increased, that her migraine worsened. The creature stood up in defense of the girl who tried to rescue him, and started kicking at the dog with his thick-soled feet to no avail, getting only dangerous growls and grunts from the hound who still held Clae's leg in its mouth.  
  
The torch-lights appeared in the clearing of the field. Another small creature just like the little boy appeared, holding the lights. "Pippin!" he cried, as he pulled the smaller one aside, who was busy trying to frighten the dog away from an half-conscious Clae. "I told you not to return to Farmer Maggot at sunset! The hounds are on the verge on a full moon, I tell ya!" he whispered quickly, as he tried to pull Pippin away.  
  
The boy turned to his friend with the torch-lights and said, "We can't leave her though!" He pointed to a bleeding Clae, who was trying to reach for the branch with bleeding hands, covered with bites from the hound. The boy with the torch peered at her and whispered, "Who is she? She may be dangerous - " he started, but Pippin exerted more effort to kick the hound away. "She saved my life Merry! And if we don't save her now, she would surely die!"  
  
Clae's clenched fists loosened, as the dog started pawing at her back. Blood mingled with the dust, and the girl's breathing slowened. A realization was reflected through the bright torchlight that Merry was holding. Then, nodding to Pippin, the other boy grabbed the stick that fell from Clae's hands, and they charged at the hound with full force, Pippin poking it in the eye and Merry burning the hound's tail with his torch. The dog whimpered and released the girl's leg, and bounded away with a burnt tail.  
  
Merry dropped his torch, and looked over the bleeding girl. "She's coming down with it," he whispered. Pippin held the girls hand, and felt her forehead that was smeared with dirt. "With what?" he asked, puzzlingly. Merry examined her face with his small hands and turned to Pippin with an answer, "With fever, silly! Look... I don't know if we could take her, I probably doubt that she's no child from the big people's town." The younger boy held the girl's hands in his and whispered, "I think she's an elf. We must save her, though. Please, Merry?"  
  
The other boy didn't seem to agree and said, "Who would take her in? None of us could understand their language." Pippin's eyes brightened. "But Frodo does! We could take her to Bag End! Frodo would have enough supplies to help her. Hopefully."  
  
Merry sighed, as he hoisted the girl's arms over his shoulder. "I hope what you're thinking is right, Pip," he whispered. Pippin just answered back with a smile, as he helped carried the girl, and with a run, they both made for the nearest town - Hobbiton.  
  
Now, the one who was supposed to be of help to Clae was all locked up by himself in his home under the hill called Bag End, trying to avoid relatives who might be up to nothing once again. But he was no match to his unexpected visitor who was knocking over the front door, slowly losing his patience. The little fellow just merely sat down his chair, and tried to enjoy his afternoon tea, despite his persistent visitor and the growing darkness.  
  
"Lobelia again most likely," he thought, running a hand throught those thick dark curls of his, merely fingering his tea cup. "She must have thought of something really nasty, and have come back again to say it..." He went on with his tea calmly, longing to disappear, till a stern, old man's hat appeared over his window.  
  
"If you don't let me in, Frodo Baggins, I shall blow your door right down your hole and out through the hill," he said with a warning chuckle.  
  
"My dear Gandalf! Half a minute!" he cried, running out of the room towards the door. "Forgive me, come in! I had a thought that you might have been Lobelia! She has been pestering me for days, and most of the time she has nothing good to say." Gandalf gave another chuckle as he went in, sweeping his pointy hat off his head. "I forgive you, my lad, I do," he said, as he patted the young hobbit (well preseved for the age of 49) on the shoulder. "I saw her sometime ago, walking towards Bywater with a face that could have curdled fresh milk!"  
  
Frodo sighed and shook his head in disbelief. "She could have curdled me! I longed to put on my ring and disappear..."  
  
The wizard, completely similar to that whom Clae and Ash have met, frowned a bit and peered through the hobbits clear blue eyes. "Ah yes, that ring. I am still trying to get information from that, and I haven't resloved quite a few things yet..." Frodo looked worriedly at him. "I could advice you to still keep it secret, and none must still know about it till I return. I only came to visit you to ask you about this... and have you seen your cousins?"  
  
Frodo blinked. "They must be off in Farmer Maggot's field again!" He rushed to the door, fearing the swift sunset, with Gandalf hot on his heels. He opened it... and gasped to see Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took sprawled on his doorstep, with dirt on their face. On the ground they held a bloodied young girl... with a face growing paler, and paler than the full moon. "Frodo!" Peregrin, usually called Pip gasped, as he struggled to keep girl's arm around his shoulders. "This young lass..."  
  
Gandalf looked out of the door, and his face looked grave. This made the younger hobbits more nervous. "... needs your help." Merry finished, as Frodo exchanged glances with the wizard whose worries went beyond his reach.  
  
"They have come. Go, take her inside!"  
  
Even with hesitation in his eyes, Frodo just opened his door and let his cousins carry the girl in. "I hope you're making a right decision, Gandalf..." he thought meekly.


	5. Chapter 4: The Great Awakening

**Chapter 4: The Great Awakening**

Gandalf paced impatiently before on of Bag End's great rooms, as Pippin sat beside him on the nearest chair, while Merry came in and out of the room, carrying a bowl of water and medical supplies. "Tell me again, Peregrin Took..." Ganadalf finally spoke after the door closed behind Merry for the fifth time. "You say that you found this girl in Farmer Maggot's field?" Pippin looked up at him nervously, and just nodded. "She saved me from the hounds that were chasing me... if I only had run away then I could have prevented the both of us from harm," he whispered, rubbing the bandages around his wrist that was bitten by one of the terriers.  
  
Gandalf peered at him cautiously through bushy eyebrows, and continued pacing. "I planned for them to arrive together, how could they come separated?" he mumbled softly to himself, Pippin looking at him every now and then, trying to make out his words.  
  
"Are you sure she is the only one you saw?" Gandalf asked.  
"Yes sire, just her, me, Maggot and his terrifying hounds." he answered, swinging his hairy feet above the tall stool.  
  
The wizard nodded and continued pacing like a caged tiger, till the bedroom door finally opened as Frodo stepped out. "She made it," he whispered as beads of sweat came down his forehead, his hands slightly bloodstained from all the bandaging he and Merry made. "But she's coming down with a slight fever right now, I won't say she would wake up tomorrow."  
  
Gandalf nodded, and patted the hobbit on the back.  
"You've done a great job, Frodo Baggins," he said firmly. "You've just saved the Cliffhanger."  
  
Frodo's jaw dropped, as his right hand quietly slipped inside his pocket... "S-she... That child is the Cliffhanger?" he whispered in surprise. The wizard nodded quietly with an assuring smile. The hobbit looked down, as his hands were released from his pocket, as he looked back into the room. "Do all... prophecies come true, Gandalf?" he asked in a soft voice, as Pippin peered over his shoulder.  
  
The wizard looked down in silence and glanced back at the hobbit.  
"They were always meant to come true, little one."  
  
With a silent nod, Frodo walked away, without looking back at Gandalf, Pippin... or the closed door behind them.  
  
Clae slept in uneasy dreams. Voices and angry faces swirled in her mind... Ash persecuting her for believing in the old man's prophecies, Shea and her incompetent lies, her parents scolding her for being away for so long and asking for a reason for the blood running from her leg... That's when she suddenly stiffened up and curled into a sleeping postion. She must have been dead all that time.  
  
But then, a ray of sunlight seemed to warm up her face.  
Dead people don't feel, don't they?  
  
Indeed, her whole body has stiffened. Some parts of them felt tight and warm, specifically her right arm and leg. But most of the pain she thought she had felt had slowly numbed out. Without opening her eyes, she could tell from the firm grip of her hand, that someone sat beside her, watching her. She wanted to yank her hand back, but she felt as if all her muscles are asleep... it must be better if she slept too...  
  
Between gaps of uncertainty and silence, she felt soft fingers close upon her jaw, and a bowl of odd-tasting bittersweet something was drawn close to he mouth. She winced, she didn't like taking things she couldn't see or doesn't know about. The bowl was seemingly tipped, for the liquid portion to slip down her mouth. Disliking the sudden taste upon her tounge, she sputtered it out, much to the dismay of the hand that was supporting her.  
  
"She wouldn't drink it," a hesitating and exhausted small voice said, as Clae felt the disappointingly sweet but terrifyingly bitter substance drawn away from her mouth. "Her fever is coming down, but she is still barely awake. Gandalf, what must I do with her?"  
  
The young girl slowly opened her eyes, and surveyed her surroundings - a blur of soft brown. She found herself lying on a bed, with pillows propped up behind her head. A small creature with a mass of dark brown hair, the details she cannot make out, sat beside the bed she was lying on, holding hopelessly on a small silver cup containing golden-brown liquid - the honey she refused to drink. To her side, a tall dark figure hiding in the shadows, held her hand. She was supposed to be getting frightened of this individual just by now, but she doesn't know why she felt this kind of warm knowing comfort towards him.  
  
"The travel from the realms of the unknown to Middle-Earth may wound her internally, and this wouldn't heal for days. patience, Frodo Baggins. After all, she's just a child." A deep consoling voice spoke beside her, as she felt the grip on her hand loosen slightly.  
  
Her eyes began to clear, as figures around her started to come into picture. Suddenly, Clae's eyes recognized the figure that held her hand in a fatherly way. The wizened figures and the huge bushy beard... "Mithrandir?" she spoke weakly. Commotion errupted in the room. The creature with the mass of curly dark brown hair suddenly turned to her in surprise, flashing those eyes... those mortifyingly bright blue eyes towards her weak, pale ones... "She speaks!" he whispered in delight. "She'll make it!"  
  
Clae suddenly felt unusual fear and amusement upon the words of the small creature. She felt fear and confusion in her heart... she can hardly believe her own eyes. How could a creature so diverse and fictional ever exist before her?  
  
The wizard who appeared to her patted her hand and said "Sssh. Go back to sleep, young one. You need your strength." He turned to the hobbit who took his burning blue eyes away from Clae, much to her relief. "As for you, Frodo, we may leave her in peace to sleep till she is well enough again. She has taken much of the medicine. I believe that will do." The hobbit looked back at her with curious and pitiful eyes, before he left the room, the silver cup in hand.  
  
As for Clae, she let the moment pass of seeing the first fair hobbit in her whole life.  
Her eyes drooped, as she fell into another deep sleep she knew she will wake up from.  
  
One morning came. Clae suddenly rose quick from bed, waking up from a terrifying nightmare about being locked up in a room without any windows, doors or any hole she could escape from. And in there she was stuck with small hairy monkeys that kept leaping on her head... However, the moment she opened her eyes, the only thing that terrified her are the blinds that were pulled over her window, making her room sink into darkness.  
  
Leaping out of bed and ignoring the sudden cramp on her bandaged leg, she drew the shades back... only to gasp at the view she saw through the round window.  
  
Green fields, with beautiful daisies shining their faces on the bright rays of the sun. A beautifully trimmed garden sat just outside its window, with a large tree on the far side, shading a bunch of small hobbit children playing around its trunk. Everything glittered, and everything looked fine as if it was spring. Clae moved to sit down breathlessly on her bed, when cramps began to spread on her leg made her topple backwards to land hard on her behind on the wooden floor.  
  
"Oomph!" she gasped painfully, as she rubbed her back with a bandaged arm.  
  
Now this small flimsy disaster caused a great commotion around Bag-End. The door to Clae's room suddenly burst open, as a curly brown haired hobbit suddenly bounded in and hoisted her up to stand on her own feet. "My, my, my," he said in a thick British accent that surprised the girl. "Its a lovely day for us to rest and be merry. Why must we hurry in waking up?" Clae looked at him as he tucked her back into her bed. He looked healthy for a hobbit, and a powerful personality with a great optimistic value. "Oh, bother me, I have forgotten to introduce myself to a young lass," he gasped as he sat down on the edge of her bed. "I am Meriadoc Brandybuck, pleased to be at your service," the hobbit gave Clae's weakening hands a firm handshake that almost had her palm broken. "Well, you may call me Merry, and I'm here under my cousin's orders. But its a pleasure taking care of you... after all you saved my other cousin's life."  
  
Clae smiled at him quietly, but she recognized that he was different from the hobbit she saw the last time. He had those bright brown eyes that seemed to dance just by looking at her in a curious manner, instead of the dark, blue lonely ones from the fair halfling she'd seen before. "I am Claeren..." she whispered. "Just call me Clae..." Merry grinned brightly and crossed his feet on the edge of her bed. "Its an unusual name for an elf... is it true that you came from the lands of the north?" he asked.  
  
A puzzling look came from her face. "Forgive me, but I am not an elf." she whispered softly, as Merry's enthusiastic smile faded, replaced by a bigger curious look. "So... it is Pippin whom I have saved, is it not?" Clae blurted, to cut the curious silence between them. The hobbit gasped. "He is my cousin! How... how did you know?"  
  
Clae was about to open her mouth, when another hobbit entered the room.  
  
"Of course she would know, Merry," he said firmly, hands in his pockets. "She was sent by Gandalf for a reason." He stood by the doorway, surveying her. From Merry, Clae's vision turned to the other individual standing by the door. He had a small built, slightly smaller than a usual hobbit, and he looked immensely young despite the lines and expressions of maturity on his face... but there was only one detail that made her recognize him completely - the brilliant blue eyes shining with an unknown emotion that was slightly hidden behind dark curly locks that fell upon his forehead. He was no other but the master of Bag End.  
  
"Ah, Frodo! We've been waiting for her to wake up," Merry said gaily, grinning brightly at the child who was growing curious. "Now here she is!" Clae clutched the hem of her blanket and looked blankly at Frodo with her own darkened blue eyes that couldn't even challenge his. "Hello," she mumbled with a small voice.  
  
Frodo bowed, but still a with a stern look in his eye. "We are honored to have you as the guest of this house, dear Clae," he said, as the girl noticed smaller little hobbits peering through the door behind him. Must be the other Baggins and Brandybuck cousins of Frodo and Merry whom they invite in the house every afternoon. "But please," Frodo seemed to beg. "Take your rest. The wizard Gandalf advised us to keep you in bed for a few more days till you have fully recovered. He shall return in three days to fix matters with each and everyone of us."  
  
Despite the honest and stern tone in Frodo's voice, this made Clae greatly impatient. She didn't know how long at all she was sleeping in a small, cramped hobbit bed that seemed for months. She didn't know how on earth she arrived in the Shire (but she greatly accused the flash of blue light that was just as silly as any fic she could write), or if she's ever coming back to the Enclosed Arboretum and to her own life. She wanted answers now.  
  
"If you ever have any needs or compliments, send them to my cousin," Frodo directed his hand to the other hobbit who was sitting nearer to Clae. "Merry would gladly come to your service. And Pippin will be back to-morrow sunrise to have a word with you." Shooing the little hobbits out of the room who was looking at her with big goo-goo eyes, Frodo turned back at Clae with a soft look and finally said, "Good day." The door was slammed shut.  
  
Hiding incoherent mumbles under her breath, Clae finally turned to Merry with a confused and disgruntled look. "When am I ever going to get home?" The hobbit could only shrug. "Gandalf is going to arrive in three days," he replied. "I guess the best we can do is wait." Merry handed tucked the girl into bed, propping more pillows behind her head so that she can see through the afternoon sunshine through the round window across her bed.  
  
With a sigh and a watchful Merry beside her, she laid her head back down and watched the sunrise sink.  
It was going to be a long story too hard to explain.  
  
**P.S.** Aaah, this is getting better. :) 


End file.
